Stories about French from March, 2011
Lebanon: Exploring the Video Artistic Scene, Featuring Ziad Antar
What's happening on the Lebanese art scene? The directors of a web-documentary on this topic are offering some previews in the form of portraits of contemporary artists.
Tunisia: Bloggers Angry at Interim Interior Minister Sacking
Tunisian bloggers are outraged over the sacking of Interim Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi today. In a surprise move, he was replaced by Hbib El-Seed. Netizens are now calling for his return to managing his portfolio in blog posts and on Facebook.
Côte d'Ivoire: Where is Gbagbo's General, Philippe Magou?
Monday March 14, 2011, was a busy day in Côte d'Ivoire. After violence this past weekend in the Abobo district of southerly economic capital Abidjan, Ivorians in the city were woken up by Kalashnikovs and heavy artillery. For a few days now, the rumors in Abidjan have been growing as to Ivorian army General Philippe Mangou's responsibility in this crisis.
Madagascar: Reactions to the New Members of the Government
Blogger Thierry Andriamirado listed the names of all the members of the newly formed government in Madagascar [fr] as it was announced on national radio. Political blogger Ndimby provides an analysis of the composition of this alleged government of national unity and the potential acceptation of the Malagasy administration by the international community[fr].
Algeria: “Facebookers’ Rally” Commemorating the Anniversary of Cease-fire Prohibited
A rally instigated by anonymous Facebook users [ fr] to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the March 19, 1962 cease-fire in Algeria did not take place. The demonstration calling for “an end to the dictatorial system in place for almost 50 years” was initially planned to occur in front of...
Cameroon: Government Interferes With Internet Service
Ingenieris.net [fr], a Cameroonian information website focused on ICT news, announced [fr] on March 24, 2011, that the Cameroonian government intends to request Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country to register the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of their users. G. Izane, the author of the article, explains that the same type...
Global Voices’ translator: Jean Saint-Dizier
Jean Saint-Dizier, aka "Juan", is a volunteer translator for Global Voices in French. Madly in love with Brazil, his second homeland, and with Portuguese, Juan translates from Portuguese to French every post about Brazil published on Global Voices because "Brazil is a chance for the world, and I want to share it".
Gabon: Citizen Web Documentary Wins Award
Website Web Docu [fr] has announced that the citizen web documentary Gabon : violences d'un coup d'état électoral [fr] (Gabon: The violence of an electoral coup) has won the award for best web-politics documentary at the Web TV-Festival 2011 [fr]. The documentary was produced in 2009 during the post-electoral turmoil that...
Côte d'Ivoire: Laurent Gbagbo Facebook Fan Page Deleted
Claudus Kouadio revealed in a blog post [fr] on March 23, 2011, that the Facebook fan page of Laurent Gbagbo – the incumbent Côte d'Ivoire president who refuses to step down after losing the 2010 presidential election – has been deleted. The memory cache of the page on the social networking...
Japan: Fundraising through art
A group of international artists realized paintings and drawings dedicated to the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The works are part of an open project called Tsunami, Des Images pour le Japon. You can send your original illustrations here [fr].
Côte d'Ivoire: “Why is no one intervening in Ivory Coast?”
Violence continues in Ivory Coast. Charles Blé Goudé has called for the Young Patriots, supporters of the outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo, to enlist in the army. Now thousands of young men have turned up at the headquarters of the Ivorian Army in the capital Abidjan. Having seen how the United Nations agreed on a military intervention in Libya, some Ivorian netizens are wondering how far the situation is going to degenerate before the international community intervenes.
Côte d'Ivoire: After Failed Mediation, Is the Worst Yet to Come?
The meeting of five African Union (AU) heads of states about Côte d'Ivoire's state of electoral deadlock made it briefly possible to believe for a short while that a détente in the country's political crisis was within reach. Alas, this mediation, called by many the "last resort meeting", seems to have failed, after incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo's representatives rejected the panel's conclusions.
Caribbean: Caribe Wave 11, the first simulated tsunami alert
On Wednesday, March 23, the first full-scale simulated tsunami alert exercise will take place in 33 countries in the Caribbean to test the effectiveness of alert, monitoring and warning systems (Hashtag on Twitter: EXERCISE – NOT REAL #CW11) . Open Street Map France [Fr] and Crisis Camp Paris [Fr] will...
Syria: Implementing Ushahidi to track protests
Syrian Revolution Map is a new Ushahidi instance launched in Syria to track ongoing protests in several cities based on citizen reports of protests, security patrols, dangerous locations, clashes, and anticipated gatherings. Six protesters have reportedly been killed in Daraa, and dozens have been arrested. The website is in Arabic...
France: Worry and Hope in the Japanese Community
In France as elsewhere, the terrifying pictures of the tsunami and earthquake have had Japanese expatriates worried by the magnitude of the disaster. Many of them spent all day on Friday, March 11, 2011, trying to contact their loved ones through the Internet, and since then have been working to bring their compatriots some emotional relief.
Guinea: Miss Guinea France 2011 Speaks Out against Excision
Interviewed by Mrs Nenette Baldé on the blog nenehawa.com, Binta Diallo, the winner of Miss Guinea France 2011, thinks [Fr] that: “The worst is that little Guinean girls associate excision with purity and believe that this is what will make them honorable, exceptional women. That's why I evoked the risks...
Togo: The Regime facing the Media
Bernard Bokodjin wrote [Fr] on his blog pambazuka.org: “In a country where the opposition is not strong enough [yet] nor well structured to counterweigh a repressive regime that violates the principles of democracy and good governance, the press remains one of the spaces where freedom of expression can counter the...
Morocco: Peaceful Marches Across the Kingdom
Inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, Moroccans have been taking to the streets since last February 2011, demonstrating week in, week out, calling for a reform of the constitution and for the establishment of a democratic parliamentary system. Peaceful marches were held on Sunday, March 20th, across the kingdom. Minutes of the marches were followed on the Internet via Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.
Haiti: The Entertainer, or The Professor?
According to the reports on Twitter regarding today's presidential election runoff in Haiti, the lines at polling stations are long, and voters at certain pollin were unable to find their names on voter lists. But many are also speculating on the outcome.
Côte d’Ivoire : Terror in Abidjan
Abidjan a connu avant le début de la guérilla qui sévit depuis quelques jours une série de violences inédites, des attaques contre les domiciles privés des adversaires politiques de Laurent Gbagbo. De plus des actes de lynchage ont été pris en vidéo dans la commune de Youpogon. Ces actes de violence publiés sur le web ont provoqué de vives réactions.
Mali : Internet and African languages
For the International Mother Language Day [Fr], Boukary Konaté [Fr], a French language Global Voices contributor, held a conference on “Internet and African languages”. The presentation [Fr] is on the blog “Toujours pas sages” [Fr].
